Back to back concerts (on a bad leg)

Woah.  Out late two nights running.  This is a lot for an old guy.  :)

Ha, yeah -

if it wasn't for this darned knee, I'd still be out with the college/post-college/grad school crowd, I think.

(Hm.  Is there a demographic category that sweeps all that in?)

Last time I was in KC, I banged my kneecap against a door (the leading edge part) and ow ow ow ow!  It hurt!  Didn't think it would amount to more than a bruise, though, until a suspicious clicking noise and pulling sensation began occurring when I walked (not while running, though... felt fine then.  Weird.)

Then on Sunday, while opening the car door to head out to Stereolab at First Avenue, something in the knee went "pop!" and THEN it got sore, and weak.  So, off to the Doctor the next business day.  

X-rays: nothing.  

So he says "Naproxen Sodium - ice - brace - two weeks.  After that... an MRI.  We may have to clean something out..."  

Ick.

No kneeling on hard surfaces, avoid deep knee bends, etc.  But he said I can run on it.  Okaaaay.  If you say so.  So I try that yesterday.  

Um, nope.  :(  Two laps in, and ... I can feel it pulling behind the kneecap.  Better stop, I guess.  I'll give it until Friday and try again.

Ironically, it's Workers Compensation, since I got hurt at work initially.  :(  WC just happens to be what I work on for a living, only... not from the side of the injured worker.  What I do is predict outcomes, price the product, etc.

So anyway, with slowly swelling knee, I still manage to get there early, grab a barstool, find a perch with a foot rail, and... settle in for a little Stereolab with my Miller Lite (w/ Rose's lime) and veggie curry tofu hotdish.  :)  (Um, never mind; it's a long story.)

Quite a good opening act: Le Loup.  A talented guy working a looper, but with a full band behind him, too.  Great sound.  The CD available on iTunes, though.. was before his band, and is not the same.  

The middle act, Monade, is a spin off of Stereolab, with some different personnel, and was dull, dull, dull.  Too bad.  But when the headliners came up, the place came alive!  They were really good.  :)  

While the opener was on, though, I turned my barstool over temporarily to the girl standing next to me, who was more than happy to guard my seat with her seat ;) for a few minutes, while I limped downstairs to the merch table.  The bass player from Stereolab was there, and had that great British accent.  Goes well with the lead singer's frequent use of French lyrics.  Cosmopolitan.  Oooh.

They did a bunch of songs from their new album (to be reviewed here soon), and it's the same great retro-60's beats and organ as always, like Diana Ross back in the day, mingled with electonica and French pop.  I love it!  :)  Good stuff.

Eventually I waddle (not weave!) down 7th to the parking garage and drag in sometime after midnight.  6AM came early Monday morning.  Ooof.  

Then, a day of pain and pills and ice, gearing up for another concert Monday night.  



Thankfully this place has lots of tables and seating.  Great venue.
 

Dinner first, though, with buddy SQ, plus roomie and his gf.  Philly cheese steak and 2-4-1 Miller Lites.  Real.  Good.  Food.

More people showed up later, namely K who skipped out on night classes (naughty!), and a new guy to me, J30 (roughly his age), an old friend of SQs from college.  Nice guy, easy to like.

This time the opening act was... eh.  An Aussie singer/songwriter named Whitley who was funny in a droll way, and talented enough, just... kind of mixed on his material.  Or maybe it was my knee.  Ow.

But later, after everybody who was coming actually came, and the headliner (Ben Kweller) took the stage, things got way better.  Way.

SQ had lent me 3 of his CDs to prep me for the show, and I liked some of it alright.  But live... wow.  Was he good!  Young guy, mid-20s, whose style is shifting from alternative to country.  And it's a great shift.  He has such a feel for country music.  

His band was tremendous, too - Kweller on acoustic (and sometimes piano), bass player and drummer who did perfect country harmonies, and a pedal steel player who almost stole the show.   Wowowow.  He has a new CD set to come out in January, and if it's going in this direction... he's got grammy potential, or a CMA award at least.  

Best show I've seen in a while.  And, with good company to boot.  :)

So who cares if I dragged in after midnight... again.  ;)  But last night I got to bed by 9.  I'm good, yeah, but not that good.